CREATION

To begin a study on the book of Genesis, you must first understand certain things about the book. Dont think that the book of Genesis appeared mysteriously or was handed down from God already written, but that Moses wrote this book under the inspiration of God. As Moses was writing, God breathed into him the words that he wanted Moses to write. Moses was not simply a vessel through which God wrote a book, but Moses was a learned man who studied under the tutelage of the finest scholars in ancient Egypt sometime around 1500 BC. He was purposefully writing to the Israelites to tell them about the identity of their God and the history of their people. He was intentionally informing them about the covenant that God had made with them. It is also important to know that the faith of the Israelites, whom he led out of Egypt, was monotheistic (compared to the polytheistic religion of Egypt) and was based on the God of Israel being the one and only preexistent and eternal being. Moses makes this fact clear from the very first verse. Another factor to keep in mind when reading Genesis is the divisions that Moses places within the book. The first 11 chapters deal with the primeval history from Creation through the Flood. The rest of the book focuses on the patriarchs of the nation of Israel. This study is focused on the themes of Covenant and Kingdom and as you will come to see, Gods covenants become more and more focused as the generations wear on. As you study, keep in mind that the idea of Covenant is linked with relationship and defined by a promise. The idea of Kingdom is linked with responsibility and defined by obedience. There are often two sides of a covenant: a promise by God that is conditioned upon the obedience of man. The very first promise of God is found in the very first chapter of Genesis beginning in verse 26. God makes a covenant with mankind to make man in the image of God. There are two Hebrew words that are used here. The word for image (tselem) relays the concept of a reflection in a mirror. The word for likeness (demuth) is the word for a figurine or statue. Basically, God is making the promise that man, the apex of his creation, will be a miniature version of himself. Think about the implications of this and the glimpses of it that we see in Adam. He was created to be eternal; there was no death in the Garden. Even after he left the Garden, he lived an astonishingly long time, as did his offspring. He had the mental capacity to not only think up the names to the possibly hundreds of millions of animals God created, but to remember them or at the very least have the ability to write and record them. The implications for man being the image and likeness of God are almost unimaginable and difficult to catalog due to the quickness in which man disobeyed. But Paul describes Christ as the Second Adam (Rom 5:14-17; 1 Cor 15:22, 45) and the one man who fulfilled his side of the covenant. Therefore, the promises of the covenant were bestowed upon Christ and we are able to further see the results of covenant fulfillment. God promises that covenant-fulfilling man has the authority to rule over his creation. Covenant-fulfilling man is Gods representation on Earth similar to a vice-regent of an emperor, having all the authority of the emperor in a distant province. We see that authority over creation of covenant-fulfilling man in Christ when he calmed the storm (Mk 4:25-30), ordered pigs to run off a cliff (Mk 5:13), and made water turn into wine (Jn 2:1-11). We see that covenant-fulfilling man even has authority over Gods spiritual creation (Mt 8:28-34; Mt 10:1, Heb 2:7-9). However, as we will see, Adam turned out not to be covenant-fulfilling man. Inherent in Gods promise was the responsibility that God laid on Adam. The promise for Adam was to be made in the image of God, but the responsibility was for him to rule over Gods creation. In chapter 3, Moses tells us about the Fall of Man. Instead of man having authority over creation, the serpent, a creation of God, exercises his authority over man. At the word of the serpent, Adam and Eve ate the fruit and the covenant that God made with man was left unfulfilled.

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DEEPER STUDY ONE

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

What do you think that the Israelites were thinking about when they first heard Moses tell them this story? How does it make you feel that God made you in his likeness? Sin is essentially creation exercising authority over you instead of you exercising authority over creation. In your own life, how does Gods creation rule over you? What do you think ruling as Gods vice-regent looks like in your own life?

WEEKLY READING GUIDE

Day Day Day Day Day 1 Genesis 1 2 2 Genesis 3 5 3 Genesis 6 7 4 Genesis 8 9 5 Genesis 10 11

NOTES

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DEEPER STUDY ONE